CAIRO: Gabriel Hawawini, the Henry Grunfeld chaired professor of Investment Banking, former dean of INSEAD and visiting scholar at the Wharton School, delivered the keynote speech at AUC's spring 2010 graduate commencement ceremony at AUC's New Cairo campus. Addressing 134 graduates, which included the first visually impaired graduate student at AUC Salama Mohamed Salama Ali, Hawawini discussed the financial crisis that started in the U.S. more than two years ago and continues to affect countries around the world. Hawawini noted that the crisis may have been averted by individuals better attuned to history. “We have fallen in what is called ignorance-arrogance trap. I want you to promise yourselves in your professional and personal lives to avoid falling in this trap,” he said. “It's the ignorance of those who know, the ignorance of the clever and smart people who are the policy makers, the economists, the journalists, the politicians, the investors, the academics, etc, who ignored the fact that we have been through similar crises before.” Drawing upon his two decades of achievements in global management, Hawawini directed students to balance facts and intuition in their professional pursuits. “My first lesson to you is never make decisions without reviewing all the facts and evidence and I'm sure that this is what you have been taught at AUC,” he said, advising the graduates. “Don't underestimate history, and don't become overconfident. Use the knowledge and education you have received at AUC to avoid the ignorance of the clever and the arrogance of the self-confident,” he added. At the ceremony, Hawawini was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, in recognition of his significant scholarly, educational and business contributions to international banking, finance and economics. In his address, President David D. Arnold noted the increasing number of master's students at AUC, pointing out that the graduate degrees in the past was less than 10 percent of the total number of graduates and now they account for 25 percent of the total. “In addition,” he said, “next fall we will launch a PhD in engineering and applied sciences – - the first PhD in AUC's history.” The visually impaired graduate – Salama Mohamed Salama Ali – received his master's degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. In addressing his fellow graduates, he noted his challenges and also thanked the university for its assistance. “I worked very hard to get my MA and faced lots of obstacles, but thanks to the unique education offered here at AUC, I was trained to view these obstacles as opportunities to improve,” he said. Several awards were granted during the commencement in recognition of faculty and student merit. The Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award, established to recognize excellent research and creative endeavors of full-time faculty, was awarded to mechanical engineering Professor Amal Esawi. Student awards included the Frank G. Wisner Award for Scholarly Excellence, established to recognize an AUC graduate student for outstanding thesis work on a topic related to modern Egypt. The 2010 prize was presented to Anders Naess, a sociology-anthropology graduate student for her thesis on the function and potential of geriatric institutions in Egypt. Naess came to AUC in 2005 as an exchange student from the University of Bergen, Norway, where he completed his Bachelor's degree in Middle East Studies. BM
